In certain industrial professions and sporting activities, it is preferable to wear headgear to protect the professional or sportsman's (collectively “user”) hearing, due to loud noise. Examples in the professional setting include, but are in no way limited to, construction workers, craftsman, airport ground support, and military personnel. Sportsmen who often encounter loud noises include hunters and any individuals who recreationally use firearms. These individuals must don earplugs, ear muffs or similar headgear in order to prevent hearing loss or injury to the user's ears.
In addition, these users often prefer to use some form of protective eyewear. This is because there is often a risk of eye damage in the event of a misfire of a firearm while engaged in a recreational activity. Likewise, there is always a risk of some form of debris when the user is engaged in a professional activity such as construction, woodworking, or use of heavy machinery.
Numerous limitations exist when a user opts to wear both protective eyewear and headgear. First, it is often cumbersome and uncomfortable to fit eyewear within the headgear to rest and engage the user's ears. Second, it remains difficult for the user to remove and later reposition the eyewear when the user must insert portion of the eyewear within the headgear. Lastly, upon removing the eyewear from inside the headgear and from the user's face, there is often no place to store this protective eyewear for quick and easy retrieval.
There have been only a few forms of combination headgear and protective eyewear assemblies, all of which have considerable limitations. As one example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,020,901 entitled “Eye and Ear Protection Apparatus to Brhel issued on Apr. 5, 2006 discloses an extension member functionally adapted to cooperatively engage and be slideably received within one or more slits found within the eyewear. A flange positioned on the outer surface of the headgear assembly is capable of receiving the slits to engage and hold the eyewear. However, this slit and flange system fails to allow quick attachment and later removal of the eyewear.
As a second example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,020,903 entitled “Combination Ear and Eye Protective Apparatus” teaches a pair of bridge-to-frame hinges that connect between part of bridge portions and the frame ends. Preferably, there are a pair of bridge-to-ear cover connectors that connect to the distal ends of the bridge portions and a pair of ear to cover bridge connectors that connect to the outer portions of the ear covering portions. The bridge-to-ear cover connectors are comprised of first hook-or-loop connectors, and the ear-cover-to-bridge connectors are comprised of second hook-or-loop connectors. Use of such a hook-and-loop assembly fails to create a sufficient bond to secure the headgear to the protective eyewear.
As a third example of a combination assembly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,177 entitled “Protective Eyewear with Adjustable Strap,” to Hall reference issued on Jan. 28, 2003 teaches use of a “snap lock” which allows the ear muffs or head phones to engage the headband of the protective eyewear. While this provides a more improved fastener compared to a hook and loop fastener, it still provides an awkward assembly should the need arise to quickly remove or attach the protective eyewear if the user has already positioned and is wearing headgear.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art of combination headgear that allows protective eyewear to be quickly and easily secured to headgear, when the headgear is already worn by the user. Moreover, there is a further need for a system that allows the eyewear to be quickly removed and stowed when the user does not need the protective eyewear during a professional or recreational sporting event.